Cylindrical hair brush

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a new, cylindrical hair brush, constituted of a rigid body comprising a prehension handle associated with a support for the bristles, characterized in that the support is constituted by a cylindrical sleeve made of elastically deformable supple material and comprising radially implanted bristles or tufts of bristles, the bases of which traverse the walls of said sleeve. The brush according to the invention may be used for treating and setting the hair.

[451 Oct. 29, 1974 United States Patent [191 Lardenois 3,651,532 3/1972Wettburg..............................15/186 FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS Robert A. Lardenois, 15 Villa du Roule, Neuilly Hauts deSeine), France CYLINDRICAL HAIR BRUSH [76] Inventor:

1,000,272 10/1951 1,085,091 7/1954 France...... 1,098,200 3/1955 France[22] Filed: Jan. 10, 1973 Appl. No.: 322,467

Primary Examiner-Peter Feldman Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Craig &Antonelli [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 13, 1972 [57]ABSTRACT This invention relates to a new, cylindrical hair brush,constituted of a rigid body comprising a prehension France 72.36265handle associated with a support for the bristles, characterized in thatthe support is constituted by a cylindrical sleeve made of elasticallydeformable supple material and comprising radially implanted bristles ortufts of bristles, the bases of which traverse the walls of said sleeve.The brush according to the invention may be used for treating andsetting the hair.

/ 8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS6/1954 Sorensen...................,..,.... 11/1954 Blakely.......

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PATENTED um 29 mm sum 20F 2 r N z y a l CYLlNDRICAL HAIR BRUSH Thepresent invention relates to a new brush for caring for the hair.

So-called air-cushion hair brushes are made by implanting the tufts ofbristle in a spherical piece of thin rubber, obtained either by cuttingout from a sheet of rubber or by moulding. The tufts of bristlesthemselves are made of polyamide bristle (nylon) or natural bristle(boar) or a mixture of them both.

Once the spherical piece of rubber is provided with the tufts ofbristle, it is fixed in a wooden or plastics brush body so as to take acertain convex shape and thus make an air-cushion between the sphericalpiece and the back of the brush.

These so-called air-cushion brushes present the following advantages.

The existence of the air cushion between the spherical piece and theback of the brush, together with the elasticity of the rubber, rendersbrushing particularly supple.

The tufts of bristle which are fixed in the rubber, themselves benefitfrom a supple anchoring instead of being rigidly fixed in the wood orplastics material. These tufts of bristle are thus themselves naturallymore supple.

Finally, as it is possible to implant the tufts of bristles mechanicallyin the spherical rubber piece without previously piercing the rubber,thus without the mechanical obligation of falling in the holes, there isno difficulty in making very fine tufts of bristles, penetrating deeplyin the hair, consequently the actual spacing of the tufts may bereduced, hence a greater number of tufts over the same bristle surface.

The combination of these advantages has rendered the air-cushion brushesvery popular, both with professional hair-dressers and the generalpublic.

Certain hair-dressers have recently developed a new method of settingthe hair, the main tool for which is a cylindrical hair brush withbristles.

The body of these brushes, made of wood or plastics material, comprisesa handle associated with a cylindrical support, this latterbeing'provided on the whole of its surface with tufts of bristles fixedon the body in conventional manner, i.e. in holes made in the support,the tufts of bristles themselves being fixed in these holes by means ofclips. Due to the general shape of these brushes, they are calledcylindrical brushes.

It is obvious that although the general shape of these brushes make themsuitable for this new hair setting technique, they do not have thequalities of the aircushion brushes, mentioned hereinabove, since thetufts of bristles are not implanted in a supple spherical piece ofrubber, there is no cushion of air a fortiori, and the tufts of bristlesare of the usual size and spacing and do not have the fineness nor thedense structure of the air-cushion brushes.

The present invention aims at producing a type of cylindricalair-cushion brush, consequently a brush of the type used in the newmethod of hair setting, but comprising in addition all the advantages ofthe conventional air-cushion brushes.

To this end, the invention relates to a brush for caring, treating andsetting the hair, constituted of a rigid body comprising a prehensionhandle associated with a support for the bristles, characterised in thatthis support is constituted by a cylindrical sleeve made of supple,elastically deformable material, this sleeve comprising radiallyimplanted bristles or tufts of bristles whose bases traverse the wallsof said sleeve.

According to a first embodiment of the invention, the brush is formed ofa body comprising a prehension handle extended by a shaft, thebristle-bearing sleeve being adapted to fit on the handle along the axisof the shaft, one end of the sleeve being locked against the handle, theopposite end being held fixed by a fixing member removably connected tothe end of the shaft.

For example, the fixing member imprisoning the marginal end of thesleeve is constituted by a disc having a groove enabling it to be fittedin the open end of the sleeve, the centre of said disc being connectedto the end of the shaft.

This disc may be fixed to the end of the shaft by screwing, crimping orgluing.

In these embodiments, the sleeve is constituted by a cylindrical bodyopen at its two ends.

In another embodiment shown as a variation, the sleeve is constituted bya cylindrical body open at one end and closed at the other end by atransverse wall, the sleeve thus having the form of a socket.

- According to this variant, the transverse wall closing the sleeve isprovided with a central opening, this opening cooperating with the endof the shaft integral with the sleeve in order to allow, by elasticdeformation of the edges of said opening, the passage of the end beyondthe transverse wall closing the sleeve, in order to ensure theimmobilisation and locking of this latter in position.

According to a further variant embodiment, the bristle-bearing sleevemade of supple material comprises an open end adapted to fit on the bodyof the brush and to be integral on this seat by gluing, the opposite endof the sleeve being closed by a transverse wall.

In this latter embodiment, the handle may comprise a shaft penetratinginside the sleeve, this shaft being terminated by a disc coming intoposition against the internal face of the transverse wall of the sleeveon which it may be rendered integral by gluing.

It may be seen that in these various embodiments, the cylindrical sleevemade of supple and elastically deformable material comprising radiallydisposed tufts of bristles, offers the advantages of cylindricalbrushes, the part bearing the bristles allowing the action of thebristles in all directions, whatever the position of the handle in thehand; however, the sleeve bearing the bristles makes it possible tobenefit from this cylindrical" brush the advantages and characteristicsof the socalled air-cushion brushes, particularly the suppleness of thebrushing action due to the deformation of the support under the tractionexerted by the hair, this suppleness also coming from the clearance thateach tuft of bristles may take in the perforation which constitutes itsrooting.

This new brush therefore comprises a supple spherical part made ofrubber or any plastics material having a suppleness similar to that of asupple rubber. It also comprises a body provided with a handle, saidbody being made equally of wood or rigid or relatively rigid plasticsmaterial. This new brush may of course be made in several sizes, interalia in a general size for use by professional hair-dressers or women athome, and in a smaller size more suitable for the bag and fortravelling.

The proportions between the spherical piece and the body can vary, aswell as the shape of the handle of the body. The bristles fixed in thespherical piece may also be of different nature, such as for examplepolyamide bristle (nylon) or natural hog or boar bristles, or a mixtureof polyamide and natural bristles or tufts of mixed bristles comprisinga large, longer monofilament surrounded by monofilaments or naturalbristles which are finer and shorter.

It is therefore possible to make a large number of models of brushes inthe system proposed, these models differing from each other by theactual appearance of the different materials, or by different aestheticappearances, the principle of construction always remaining, however,the same.

The invention will be more readily understood upon reading the followingdescription of various embodiments thereof, given by way of non-limitingexample, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a so-called aircushion" brush accordingto the prior art.

FIG. 2 shows a view in detail of the spherical piece of this brushprovided with tufts of bristles.

FIG. 3 shows a view in longitudinal section of a brush according to theinvention.

FIG. 4 shows a view in transverse section of the brush of FIG. 3 alongIV-IV;

FIG. 5 shows a detailed view of the end of the brush of FIG. 3 in avariant embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows a detailed view of this same end according to anotherembodiment.

Referring now to the drawings, FIGS. 1 and 2 show that the so-calledair-cushion brushes are constituted of a rigid body 1 with which isassociated and connected a spherical piece 2 made of elasticallydeformable material, this spherical piece being pierced with holes 3, 3'enabling tufts of bristles 4, 4' to be inserted through and fixed.

As may be seen in FIG. 2, the spherical piece is made of supple materialwhich adapts itself to the movements of the bristle and allows, bydeformation, broader and more supple movements of each tuft under theeffect of brushing.

According to the invention, a brush is made (FIG. 3) which isconstituted of two parts, viz. a handle made of rigid materialassociated with a sleeve 6 supporting tufts of bristles.

The handle 5 comprises a tapering part permitting the prehension andgood holding in the hand, and is extended by a shaft 7; where the shaftis connected to the handle 5, there is provided an annular shoulder 8 onwhich the open end of the sleeve 6 may fit; on the opposite side, thesleeve is closed by a transverse wall 9, said sleeve forming a socketand extending the handle 5, the shaft 7 being disposed in the axis 10 ofthe sleeve. The shaft has an end 11 coming into place in an opening 12made in the central part of the transverse wall 9 of the sleeve; the end11 enters this opening 12 by elastic deformation of its edges andimprisons it, thus ensuring that the transverse wall 9 of the sleeve 6is maintained in position.

Thus, the sleeve 6 is immobilised and firmly held by its base 13 and itsupper end constituted by the transverse wall 9; however, the cylindricalwalls supporting the tufts of bristles 14, 15, 16 made of supplematerial may undergo a twisting movement to follow the movement ofbrushing of the hair.

According to FIG. 5, a variant consists in that the terminal end of theshaft 17 is covered by a tip 18 on which it is rendered integral,particularly by gluing or other means, the tip 18 comprising on itsperiphery a groove 19 permitting the housing of the terminal edge 20 ofthe sleeve.

According to the variant embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the sleevecomprises at its terminal end a completely closed transverse wall 24 andon the inner face of this wall abuts the disc 22 integral with the shaft21, the disc 22 being connected to the inner face of the transverse wall24 by a layer of adhesive 23.

It is understood that the bristle-bearing sleeves are made of a rubberof suitable elasticity or a plastics material having elasto-plasticcharacteristics similar to those of rubber. These sleeves have the formof a section of tube, the wall of which is of suitable thickness, of theorder of 2.5 mm and they may easily be obtained by simply cutting anapproximately 18 mm-diameter tube into sections, at right angles, thelength of the sections varying from 75 mm for small brushes for the bag,up to 110 mm for large model brushes, it being under stood that allthese dimensions are given here only by way of pure indication in orderto give an example.

Another method of making the spherical parts consists in moulding thesesleeves instead of cutting them from a continuous tube. It is thenpossible to make pieces that are closed on one side by a wall ofsuitable thickness, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6.

I claim:

1. Brush for caring for, treating and setting the hair, comprising: aprehension handle, a rigid central shaft extending from said prehensionhandle and having a free end portion, a cylindrical sleeve made ofsupple and elastically deformable material, said sleeve having spacedmarginal end portions and being adapted to fit on said handle along theaxis of said shaft, said cylindrical sleeve having a diameter greaterthan the diameter of said central shaft and forming a free annular spacebetween said sleeve and said central shaft to permit movement of saidsleeve, means for connecting one of said marginal ends of said sleeve tosaid free end portion of said shaft, means provided on said prehensionhandle for holding the other of said marginal ends of said sleeve, and aplurality of bristles or tufts of bristles radially implanted in saidsleeve, said bristles or tufts of bristles including bases which passthrough the walls of said sleeve.

2. Brush as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cylindrical sleeve is acylindrical body open on at least one end thereof, and wherein saidmeans for connecting one of said marginal ends of the sleeve isconstituted by a disc, said disc being provided with a peripheral grooveportion enabling it to fit onto said open end of the cylindrical sleeve,the center of said disc being integral with said free end portion of theshaft.

3. Brush as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cylindrical sleeve is acylindrical body open on at least one end thereof, and wherein saidmeans for connecting one of said marginal ends of the sleeve isconstituted by a disc, said disc being provided with a peripheral grooveportion enabling it to fit onto said open end of the cylindrical sleeve,the disc being fixed to said free end portion of the shaft by gluing.

4. Brush as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sleeve is constituted by acylindrical body open at its two ends.

being open at one end thereof and including a transverse wall closingthe other end thereof, the sleeve thus having the shape of a socket, andwherein said transverse wall is provided with a central opening, saidfree end portion of the shaft including a catch adapted to hold saidtransverse wall passing through said opening by elastic deformation ofits edges.

7. Brush as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sleeve includes an open endadapted to fit on the prehension handle and to be connected thereto bygluing, and wherein the opposite end of the sleeve is closed by atransverse wall.

8. Brush as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sleeve includes an open endadapted to fit on the prehension handle and to be connected thereto bygluing, and wherein the opposite end of the sleeve is closed by atransverse wall, said free end portion of said shaft being terminated bya disc coming into position against the inner face of the transversewall of the sleeve on which it is rendered integral by gluing.

1. Brush for caring for, treating and setting the hair, comprising: aprehension handle, a rigid central shaft extending from said prehensionhandle and having a free end portion, a cylindrical sleeve made ofsupple and elastically deformable material, said sleeve having spacedmarginal end portions and being adapted to fit on said handle along theaxis of said shaft, said cylindrical sleeve having a diameter greaterthan the diameter of said central shaft and forming a free annular spacebetween said sleeve and said central shaft to permit movement of saidsleeve, means for connecting one of said marginal ends of said sleeve tosaid free end portion of said shaft, means provided on said prehensionhandle for holding the other of said marginal ends of said sleeve, and aplurality of bristles or tufts of bristles radially implanted in saidsleeve, said bristles or tufts of bristles including bases which passthrough the walls of said sleeve.
 2. Brush as claimed in claim 1,wherein said cylindrical sleeve is a cylindrical body open on at leastone end thereof, and wherein said means for connecting one of saidmarginal ends of the sleeve is constituted by a disc, said disc beingprovided with a peripheral groove portion enabling it to fit onto saidopen end of the cylindrical sleeve, the center of said disc beingintegral with said free end portion of the shaft.
 3. Brush as claimed inclaim 1, wherein said cylindrical sleeve is a cylindrical body open onat least one end thereof, and wherein said means for connecting one ofsaid marginal ends of the sleeve is constituted by a disc, said discbeing provided with a peripheral groove portion enabling it to fit ontosaid open end of the cylindrical sleeve, the disc being fixed to saidfree end portion of the shaft by gluing.
 4. Brush as claimed in claim 1,wherein the sleeve is constituted by a cylindrical body open at its twoends.
 5. Brush as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sleeve is constitutedby a cylindrical body, said cylindrical body being open at one endthereof and including a transverse wall closing the other end thereof,the sleeve thus having the shape of a socket.
 6. Brush as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the sleeve is constituted by a cylindrical body, saidcylindrical body being open at one end thereof and including atransverse wall closing the other end thereof, the sleeve thus havingthe shape of a socket, and wherein said transverse wall is provided witha central opening, said free end portion of the shaft including a catchadapted to hold said transverse wall passing through said opening byelastic deformation of its edges.
 7. Brush as claimed in claim 1,wherein said sleeve includes an open end adapted to fit on theprehension handle and to be connected thereto by gluing, and wherein theopposite end of the sleeve is closed by a transverse wall.
 8. Brush asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said sleeve includes an open end adapted tofit on the prehension handle and to be connected thereto by gluing, andwherein the opposite end of the sleeve is closed by a transverse wall,said free end portion of said shaft being terminated by a disc cominginto position against the inner face of the transverse wall of thesleeve on which it is rendered integral by gluing.